Creativity and achievement in design coursework

Abstract:

Findings from this investigation with 81 college students indicate that ideational fluency is a valid predictor of student achievement in an interior design course. Both original and popular ideational fluency as measured by the Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure were related to the course grade, design criteria scores, and the final project grade. Very few studies have found such a clear relationship between performance on any measure of creativity and actual performance in a course. The results suggest that the MSFM is a valuable tool for use in conjunction with other criteria in admissions screening for an interior design program.     

Restructuring ability and patterns of physics achievement.

For a sample of 24 male and 19 female college students, persons with high visualization (F1,36 = 7.60, P less than .01) and low flexibility of closure (F1,36 = 6.54, P less than .02) attained significantly higher achievement in physics than persons with low visualization or high flexibility of closure. Persons with high restructuring ability and high spatial visualization (M = 88.64, SD = 15.6) attained a significantly higher level of physics achievement than persons with high restructuring ability and low spatial visualization (M = 56.5, SD = 25.1). Flexibility of closure, spatial visualization, and the embedded figures test accounted for 23.8%, 18.4%, and 53% of the variability in physics achievement among the entire sample, among amles, and among females, respectively. The data provided moderate support for the field-dependence--independence model of psychological differentiation and for investigators who reported a possible link between field-dependence--independence, visualization, and extent of neurological lateralization.     

Creativity.4in1: Four-Criterion Construct of Creativity

The purpose of this theoretical article is to provide an extended definition of creativity that embraces potential cross-cultural variations in this construct. Creativity is defined as a 4-criterion construct, which includes attributes of novelty, utility, aesthetics, and authenticity. Novelty attribute stipulates that a creative work brings something new into being, which presents a new conceptual framework and/or modifies or violates an existing one. Utility attribute stipulates that a creative work is what a producer or a recipient considers creative, what represents an important landmark in spiritual, cultural, social, and/or political environment, and what addresses moral issues. The aesthetics attribute stipulates that a creative work presents the fundamental truth of nature, which is reflected in a perfect order, efficiently presents the essence of the phenomenal reality, and is satisfactorily complex, expressing both tension and intrinsic contradiction. Authenticity attribute stipulates that a creative work expresses an individual's inner self and relates one's own values and believes to the world. These attributes establish a comparison matrix, which can be used to evaluate and compare the levels of creativity of works from different areas of human endeavor.     

Creativity, depression and suicide.

The relationship between suicide and creativity has long been a subject of considerable concern. The author presents evidence indicating that in fact depression, suicide, and creativity are related. Several hypotheses for the relationship are posited. It is suggested that the same changes in the serotonergic system that are associated with depression in general and with impulsive suicides and homicides in the extreme may also be responsible for an element of risk taking that characterizes creativity and innovation in a person psychodynamically predisposed to being creative.     

Single-sex versus coeducational environment and achievement in adolescent females.

For women, the nature and range of experiences during the high school years take on special significance, since it is during this period that they usually weigh their various roles and adjust their levels of aspirations accordingly. If the high school environment is successful in reducing the discrepancy between what are often viewed as conflicting roles, adolescent females may place greater emphasis on achievement. It is within this context that the present paper explored the differential benefits of single-sex and coeducational schooling. The issue explored is not whether one is preferable for females; rather, the concern here is how each of these settings influences both achievement and personal fulfillment.     

Ethnic differences in adolescent achievement. An ecological perspective.

Using data collected from a large sample of high school students, the authors challenge three widely held explanations for the superior school performance of Asian-American adolescents, and the inferior performance of African- and Hispanic-American adolescents: group differences in (a) parenting practices, (b) familial values about education, and (c) youngsters' beliefs about the occupational rewards of academic success. They found that White youngsters benefit from the combination of authoritative parenting and peer support for achievement, whereas Hispanic youngsters suffer from a combination of parental authoritarianism and low peer support. Among Asian-American students, peer support for academic excellence offsets the negative consequences of authoritarian parenting. Among African-American youngsters, the absence of peer support for achievement undermines the positive influence of authoritative parenting.     

Creativity Research: Whither Thou Goest . . .

In Mumford's (2003) review of 2 major creativity handbooks, he outlines how the field has advanced. New methodologies and research paradigms have enabled a wider variety of variables and questions to be investigated. These advances enable specific processes important to creativity to be studied. Cognitive and affective processes important in creativity are better understood and differentiated. As a result, we can learn about different profiles of creative individuals in different domains. Currently, there is no comprehensive theory of creativity. For theoretical advancement to occur, we need an interdisciplinary approach.